Quito surprised us with their innovative and diverse culinary scene. There were lots of great restaurants, craft breweries, and cafes to explore around the city.
Our favorite dishes we tried in Quito included the foie gras crème brûlée and “egg” at Zazu as part of the full Zazu experience, the passionfruit Wahoo crudo and chocopop desert at Somos, and the berries dish at Urko. These are just a few highlights from many great experiences.
Zazu
Missing from the “50 Best” list, this fine dining establishment has been recognized by Relais & Chateaux and Wine Spectator. While there are Ecuadorian influences in the menu, this is a more traditional fine dining tasting menu. Both A la Carte and a tasting menu ($95) are available, with the wine pairing at $65. The also offer a vegetarian version of the tasting menu as well at $75.
The tasting menu includes 8 courses and two optional add-ons. The Cuy is a great opportunity to try Guinea pig in a more refined preparation and the foie gras crème brûlée was a highlight of the meal. These are not small courses and are very rich – we were absolutely stuffed by the end of the menu. Would recommend if you are a couple doing the tasting menu that only one of you do the optional add-ons.
URKO
URKO was our favorite dining experience in Quito. URKO is a small, stylish 20-seat restaurant with a seasonal 8-course tasting menu that changes every 3 months in line with the Andean agricultural calendar ($80 – can accommodate vegetarian with advance notice). They also offer drink pairings at $30 (an absolute steal – definitely do). The service at URKO was amazing – from messages before to ensure we knew the location, a surprise at the end of the meal with a polaroid picture of us and “passport” with the handwritten menu, to someone walking us to our Uber to make sure we were taken care of.
The food was also amazing – we enjoyed all the dishes within the tasting menu and the wine pairings elevated the overall experience. We visited in January, so we experienced the “ Kaoak Raymi” menu.
Somos
The vibe of this restaurant is incredible – there’s vibrant wall murals, tasteful decorations, a full bar, and a cute gift shop up front. But it’s more than just looks – the food & drinks were excellent!
Somos offers a tasting menu, but we opted to go a la carte that night. The highlights of the menu were the starters and dessert. The passionfruit wahoo crudo was a bright, tasty dish to start off the night and comes accompanied with plantain chips which complement the flavors so well. When we ran out of fish… we kept snacking on the chips dipped in the delicious sauce. For desert, two offerings stood out so of course we had both. Chocobanana offers a dark chocolate mousse with whiskey banana ice cream and Chocopop was a chocolate lava cake with popcorn ice cream – delicious. If you have to pick one, chocopop would be out suggestion.
Miskay
Miskay offers an elevated presentation of Ecuadorian staples. A tasting menu is available and the main courses are reasonably priced in the $13-25 range.
For starters, Locro Quiteño Is a traditional Ecuadorian soup with potatoes, cheese, and avocado. Miskay is also known for their ceviches, with an option to try a tasting platter of ceviches or empanadas which are great for larger groups. We also really enjoyed the Fritada. For mains we had the Trout and Pork, but this would be another good location to try Cuy (Guinea pig) if you haven’t.
There were also a number of other highly regarded restaurants we didn’t get a chance to try firsthand but were featured in the 50 Best Discovery list:
- Nuema: #48 on Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants, Nuema features a tasting menu with innovative, gastronomic dishes ($85 tasting menu)
- Cire: Progress Ecuadorian Cuisine ($36)
- Chez Jérôme: Long-standing French fine-dining fixture in the city ($50)
- Shibumi: Top Sushi ($35)
- Zfood: Operates as both a fish shop and a restaurants – a great way to get your seafood fix ($40)
Craft Breweries: Our favorite brewery in Quito was Sinners Microcerveceria, but Bandidos Brewing, Andes, and Shaman are also popular. The district where Sinners is located is a hot spot of craft breweries with lots of options within walking distance.
